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Thursday, 17 December 2015

Have a Merry, Grungy Steampunk Christmas!

Servus and welcome to my very first post as a proud member of the fantastic Emerald Creek Dares DT!

With this challenge lovely Kim Evans (my new boss) and all the ladies from the DT want to wish you a safe and happy holiday - and so do I!
The aim of this challenge is also to celebrate the holidays around the world and learn a bit of the traditions and other things we all love about this favourite season of the year.

My family and I celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th December...by lighting candles on the decorated tree, singing Christmas carols, unwrapping presents (which is accompanied by a lot of "ooohs", "aaahs" and "yays") and having lovely food like roast duck or Wiener Schnitzel with our traditional "French Salad" afterwards.

Many people in Austria also have fondue on Christmas eve and quite a lot of Austrians have simple bratwurst with sauerkraut (which is mainly a habit in the countryside). I am more the roast duck type, but enjoying a tasty bratwurst on an advent market (alongside some hot and sweet punch) is something I love too.

So here's my card with which I want to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas:

I was mainly inspired by the gorgeous Christmas Tree and Victorian- and Mini Victorian Snowflake charms from Emerald Creek. I knew immediately that I had to make one of the beautiful snowflake charms the topping star on my grunge Christmas tree!

To cover the white spots with a metal tone too I dabbed on some brushed pewter Distress Stain and wiped back the excess on the foil tape with a soft damp cloth. I knew that even if it both looked silver-y the foil tape areas would react differently to paints and stains than the areas with just the brushed pewter on them. Adding a bit of "randomness" this way always helps with adding more depth and detail to grunge projects! It is as if you trick yourself and thus prevent yourself from working too neatly (which always looks kind of "strange" with grunge projects).

After that had dried I dabbed on some Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and sprayed it with water to create drip lines.

As I always try to make most of my paints I decided to swipe my cut out tree through the run down paint on my desk. That also helped blend in my tree with the metal looking background.

While my tree was drying, I dabbed on more Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot Distress paint to my background, wiped some of it off with my cloth or went back in to add more with other spots until I was content with the look.

I also used the Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint to make my silver snowflake charm match the bronze look of my background.

As I found the loops on my charms weren't needed for use on my card I simply cut them off using large cutting pliers.

To make my tree shape stand out from the background I dabbed some more Picket Fence Distress Paint on and spread it with my fingers. While it was still wet I wiped back most of it, moving my cloth from the outside towards the center of my card thus creating a kind of shading.

For a finish I glued the tree, my sentiment and the charms in place and dabbed some Black Soot Distress Paint around the outer edges of my card to create a visible "frame" that draws the focus towards the center.

To tone down the clean white edges of the card I wanted my finished piece to mount onto, I loosely dabbed on some Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint here and there.

The last finishing touch was to add some half pearls for a little more bling.

Voilá!

If you hop over to

you will find more inspirational projects made by my teamies! By playing along you also get the chance to win a fantastic $25 voucher for the Emerald Creek online store! (they ship world-wide by the way ;)

This is all kinds of amazing!I love your background technique using foil tap and silver paint. How clever! I need to try that. Thank you so much for all the awesome inspiration and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!~~julia~~

Oh My gosh Claudia! Even after the sneak peak I could not imagine how you pulled this off. I am sooo grateful for you and your talent. This post was awesome, I learned new techniques. I am so sorry your package never arrived but I am thrilled with what you were able to pull together for this first post. This is so exciting!

I am still convinced that the parcel just got stuck at customs (as that's what tracking indicates) and will arrive as soon as the last Christmas hectic has ended...;)So happy that you like my first DT make for the Emerald Creek Dares site! Mwah! X

Wow! This is beautiful! And as always, thanks for sharing the steps in how you created it. (It is very helpful to novices like me.) Your Christmas tradition sounds wonderful. In case I don't get back over to your blog again for a bit: Merry Christmas!

welcome to the team Claudia!! your card is SPECTACULAR!! holy moly...and a wonderful tutorial. i have always wanted that embossing folder and now need it even more! i love how this turned out..totally love!!Merry Christmas to you & yours!! xo

You had me at foil tape C! Haha! Love the grunge and that Christmas tree is awesome sauce! Gorgeous! Huge congrats on your new DT. Looks like you will be having more fun! Hugz to you muffin! And Merry Christmas! ~Niki

Wow - this is AMAZING!! Love, love, love everything about it - and your step-outs are fantastic - learned a lot! Have followed your blog for a long time (and still hoping to make one of those beautiful bugs!) Happy holidays and best wishes for a wonderful 2016! xxx Lynn

OOOOH! I've been meaning to get over to have a closer look, and I've been pleasantly surprised with your awesome tutorial! Fabulously done! I'm a lover of grunge, so this card just speaks to me! I have got to get that embossing folder; been telling myself that for ages, but it never seems to make it to the shopping cart! You have convinced me! Thank you for your amazing inspiration, and congratulations on joining the team! I'm looking forward to your awesome designs! Happy New Year!